


Brighter Days

by klaviergavout



Category: The Lorax (2012)
Genre: Gen, this fandom needs a lil more plato stuff now and then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 14:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6758758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klaviergavout/pseuds/klaviergavout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the Once-ler's birthday, and he wants nothing more but to relax and indulge in the world around him. Oh, and also some of those marshmallows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brighter Days

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic for one of my friends! I hope they've had a super day and that they like this. I had fun writing it!  
> (This'll probably not be my only fic for this film; my love for it's been rekindled lately. We'll see how it goes.)

Stepping out of his house on a cloudless, sunny morning, the Once-ler took some time to look outside. The world he knew now was different, colourful, calm. The young truffula trees he had planted and grown gave the air a milky tone, and he could see far off in the distance a gaudy flock of Swomee swans flying joyfully over the landscape. There were no Barbaloots around, nor Humming Fish- but he hoped that one day, they’d return, to visit. The Lorax certainly had.

“Hey, uh, Mr. Once-ler? It’s me! Ted. Ted Wiggins? Hi.”

The Once-ler squinted his eyes and looked around, trying to find the owner of the familiar voice. He couldn’t see anyone else, however. Soon did he feel a hand tug on his coat, and he looked downwards to see Ted standing in front of him, holding something else that was very familiar.

“Happy birthday!” Ted cried with a grin, holding out happily a bulging bag of marshmallows.

It took the Once-ler a few good seconds to process the thing Ted was holding out to him, but once he realised what it was, he grinned back and took it. Holding the bag in one hand, he reached out and ruffled Ted’s hair lightly. “Thank you, Ted.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Ted held out his hand, a smirk on his face, an almost hungry look in his eyes. “Hey, can I…?”

“Nope. They’re all mine now. My birthday, my ‘mallows.”

“Aw.” Ted crossed his arms in mock frustration, and pouted. “Here I am, being the Good Samaritan, buying my good old friend the Once-ler some marshmallows, and look how he repays me—”

He was interrupted by a gloved hand shoved near his face, chock-full of marshmallow.

“I was kidding,” said the Once-ler.  
  
A smile.   
  
“I know.”

* * *

Ted and the Once-ler were sitting underneath the largest tree there was nearby, and drinking some juice as they talked about how life had been treating them. Ted, now a year and a half older than he was when they had first met, confessed that he had, well, _confessed_ to Audrey.

“She said no.”

“Aw, that’s too bad, kiddo.” The Once-ler patted his shoulder lightly. “Well, hey, there’s plenty more metaphorical fish in the sea. And a lot of those fish are human girls that like trees. So, you’re not out of luck.”

“I know.” Ted shrugged, a smile on his face. “But hey, we’re still really good friends, and we hang out a lot. And, y’know. Plant trees, water trees, grow trees. We have somewhat of a rota going on.”

The Once-ler laughed.

* * *

They talked for a while, Ted and him, until eventually they just sat and looked at the view. It was calming and serene, even with the almost nauseating bright of neon colour shining from through the hole into Thneedville. People still lived there, but now that O’Hare's chokehold on the city and its oxygen had been removed, they were beginning to realise a lot of things Ted had said held true.

“Hey, uh, Once-ler?”

“Yeah?”

“Look over there.”

A bright, gentle light was shining down from the sky, down onto the ring of stones that still bore the word UNLESS, down onto the grass below. When the Once-ler saw it he jumped up from his spot and rushed over to the stones, and Ted followed him, a nervous look on his face.

“W-What’s it doing?”

The Once-ler was overjoyed, his hands balled in tight, excited fists. “You’ll see, you’ll see!”

And less than a minute later, there stood the Lorax, a warm smile on his face.

Ted thought he might faint.

* * *

“So this is the human you’ve told me all about?” The Lorax looked Ted up and down before shrugging his shoulders and chuckling to himself, holding out a hand for Ted to shake. Ted knelt down slowly and took the tiny orange hand in his, shaking it so cautiously it appeared as if he was afraid to break it.

“That’s the one,” said the Once-ler, looking prouder than he’d ever been before. “Ted Wiggins, my best friend, wingman, and confidant. He speaks for the trees.”

“He does, does he?” The Lorax smirked at this, and Ted felt himself redden, utterly embarrassed. “Well, Ted Wiggins, I’m the Lorax. I speak for the trees. And you know what? Me, and the Beanpole here, _and_ the trees- but me especially- we’re all very proud of you.”

Ted smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand; the Lorax still hadn’t let go. “It was nothing.”

“It was _everything_ ,” said the Lorax, with a smile on his face, finally letting go of Ted’a hand so he could walk to the Once-ler’s side. “You _cared_ , Ted. And you changed our world.”

Ted smiled. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Out of the blue, the Lorax shot his hand up and grabbed the bag of marshmallows from out the Once-ler's grasp.

“Hey! Those are mine!”

“Now for the _real_ reason I came,” said the Lorax, grinning playfully. “Who’s for a celebratory marshmallow?”

No one could argue with that.

 


End file.
